According to the U.S. Treasury Department, annually about $600 billion in taxes goes unpaid, which is roughly equal to all federal income tax paid by the lowest-earning percentage of taxpayers. These unpaid taxes are predominantly owed by the most wealthy.
Workers have taxes automatically withheld from paychecks, with income from dividends, interest and other sources reported to the IRS through W-2s, 1099s, etc. There are some types of income, however, for which little or no third-party reporting exists. When the government has limited ability to tell when these filers are misreporting, cheating can run amuck.
Tax cheating is not a victimless crime. When disproportionately high-income people don’t pay their bills, everyone else must pay more to fill in the shortfall. The IRS could conduct more audits, but Trump Republicans have made sure that the agency has been starved of resources.
No longer. The IRS, due to legislation recently passed along party lines, now has the means to go after tax cheats. Billions in revenue will be brought to our treasury without having to raise a single tax rate.
Trump Republicans have cranked up their misinformation machine to confuse, exploit and scare honest, rank-and-file taxpayers. Their message to wealthy tax cheats: The GOP, now and in the future, has their backs.
Georgians work hard and believe in fairness. But the right wants to rig the system. Fixing what’s broken is just one more reason to vote Democrat.
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